xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/ktrace/ktrace.1 (revision dd41de95a84d979615a2ef11df6850622bf6184e)
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28.\"	@(#)ktrace.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd August 26, 2019
32.Dt KTRACE 1
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm ktrace
36.Nd enable kernel process tracing
37.Sh SYNOPSIS
38.Nm
39.Op Fl aCcdi
40.Op Fl f Ar trfile
41.Op Fl g Ar pgrp | Fl p Ar pid
42.Op Fl t Ar trstr
43.Nm
44.Op Fl adi
45.Op Fl f Ar trfile
46.Op Fl t Ar trstr
47.Ar command
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49The
50.Nm
51utility enables kernel trace logging for the specified processes.
52Kernel trace data is logged to the file
53.Pa ktrace.out .
54The kernel operations that are traced include system calls, namei
55translations, signal processing, and
56.Tn I/O .
57.Pp
58Once tracing is enabled on a process, trace data will be logged until
59either the process exits or the trace point is cleared.
60A traced process can generate enormous amounts of log data quickly;
61It is strongly suggested that users memorize how to disable tracing before
62attempting to trace a process.
63The following command is sufficient to disable tracing on all user-owned
64processes, and, if executed by root, all processes:
65.Pp
66.Dl \&$ ktrace -C
67.Pp
68The trace file is not human readable; use
69.Xr kdump 1
70to decode it.
71.Pp
72The utility may be used only with a kernel that has been built with the
73.Dq KTRACE
74option in the kernel configuration file.
75.Pp
76The options are:
77.Bl -tag -width indent
78.It Fl a
79Append to the trace file instead of recreating it.
80.It Fl C
81Disable tracing on all user-owned processes, and, if executed by root, all
82processes in the system.
83.It Fl c
84Clear the specified trace points associated with the given file or processes.
85.It Fl d
86Descendants; perform the operation for all current children of the
87designated processes.
88See also the
89.Fl i
90option.
91.It Fl f Ar trfile
92Log trace records to
93.Ar trfile
94instead of
95.Pa ktrace.out .
96.It Fl g Ar pgid
97Enable (disable) tracing on all processes in the process group (only one
98.Fl g
99flag is permitted).
100.It Fl i
101Inherit; pass the trace flags to all future children of the designated
102processes.
103See also the
104.Fl d
105option.
106.It Fl p Ar pid
107Enable (disable) tracing on the indicated process id (only one
108.Fl p
109flag is permitted).
110.It Fl t Ar trstr
111Specify the list of trace points to enable or disable, one per letter.
112If an explicit list is not specified, the default set of trace points is used.
113.Pp
114The following trace points are supported:
115.Pp
116.Bl -tag -width flag -compact
117.It Cm c
118trace system calls
119.It Cm f
120trace page faults
121.It Cm i
122trace
123.Tn I/O
124.It Cm n
125trace namei translations
126.It Cm p
127trace capability check failures
128.It Cm s
129trace signal processing
130.It Cm t
131trace various structures
132.It Cm u
133userland traces generated by
134.Xr utrace 2
135.It Cm w
136context switches
137.It Cm y
138trace
139.Xr sysctl 3
140requests
141.It Cm +
142trace the default set of trace points -
143.Cm c , i , n , p , s , t , u , y
144.El
145.It Ar command
146Execute
147.Ar command
148with the specified trace flags.
149.El
150.Pp
151The
152.Fl p ,
153.Fl g ,
154and
155.Ar command
156options are mutually exclusive.
157.Sh EXAMPLES
158Run "make", then trace it and any child processes:
159.Dl $ ktrace -i make
160.Pp
161Trace all kernel operations of process id 34:
162.Dl $ ktrace -p 34
163.Pp
164Trace all kernel operations of processes in process group 15 and
165pass the trace flags to all current and future children:
166.Dl $ ktrace -idg 15
167.Pp
168Disable all tracing of process 65:
169.Dl $ ktrace -cp 65
170.Pp
171Disable tracing signals on process 70 and all current children:
172.Dl $ ktrace -t s -cdp 70
173.Pp
174Enable tracing of
175.Tn I/O
176on process 67:
177.Dl $ ktrace -ti -p 67
178.Pp
179Disable all tracing to the file "tracedata":
180.Dl $ ktrace -c -f tracedata
181.Pp
182Disable tracing of all user-owned processes:
183.Dl $ ktrace -C
184.Sh SEE ALSO
185.Xr dtrace 1 ,
186.Xr kdump 1 ,
187.Xr truss 1 ,
188.Xr ktrace 2 ,
189.Xr utrace 2
190.Sh HISTORY
191The
192.Nm
193command appeared in
194.Bx 4.4 .
195.Sh BUGS
196Only works if
197.Ar trfile
198is a regular file.
199